Found in Sotat
by CrimsonTears1
Summary: I don't have a summary yet. O.o B/OC Please review.
1. Prolouge

As the rain poured down even harder, I looked up at Briar from under my hood. Briar was wearing a similar cloak, and his hood, like mine, covered enough of his face to make it indistinguishable. He had his head down, and was looking either at the ground or his horse's mane. We were both riding to Harja, our hometown, with Daja, Tris, Sandry, Niko, Rosethorn, Lark and Frostpine. Some other mages from Winding Circle traveled with them, but I only know a few of them. I regret coming here already, even though I wasn't given a choice on whether I was going or not.  
  
I didn't know the exact purpose of our journey when we had started out, Niko had only said something about the king and the Count wanting to know something. That alone was enough to scare me away from Sotat for a good number of years. Nobles thinking.  
  
I had left Sotat seven years ago, and had never once wished to return. But that is another story entirely.  
  
A great tragedy occurred in Sotat nineteen years ago, when on one hot summer day, two pairs of twins were born. It was a joyous happening for the four young parents, all of whom were great friends and greatly in love. The parents were of course, Benjamin and Faith Crelant and Earn and Lira Dubosse. The Crelants were a relatively normal couple, save the fact that Benjamin was the crown prince of Sotat and was to assume the throne when his father chose to relinquish his reign of the country. The Dubosse couple was to be the next Count and Countess of Sotat. The Count/tess's main job was to be the royal advisors.  
  
I disgress- the birth of their children, on the same day, even, was a cause of great joy for them. That was, until reality hit them. Sotat had just ended a long streak of depression and black magic, terrible murders and superstition. Though it was said that all of this had ended, it had really just begun to end, and it would take years for the country to fully recover. One superstition that had caused much trouble was the one about twins that now sobered the once-exuberant parents' hearts. When there were twins, it was said that the first child was the real one and the second one was an evil copy of it, and therefore should be killed.  
  
Decisions about the children's futures had to be made, and quickly. Most of the servants had strong superstitions still and would not hesitate to tell the public if they found out that the children the Count and prince had were twins, causing the death of the younger babies. Only the nurses could be trusted, and there were only two of them. Besides, they were only human- it would be only too easy for them to accidentally let something slip.  
  
Faith was fighting with her husband in the throne room, whilst the king discussed some trivial matter with an envoy of Emelan's. "Ben, we can't let Delaree be the one taken away," she whispered to him. "She would never survive; she's too weak- the younger twins are always weaker for the first few years."  
  
"So you suggest we throw out our firstborn? Remember, the throne can only be assumed through the firstborn children. If Relissa dies without first relinquishing the throne to Delaree, no one will be able to claim the throne after me. Do you know what that would do to the country?" he demanded, his voice low also.  
  
"So you suggest we sacrifice our daughter for the country?" she hissed at him.  
  
"Isn't Relissa our daughter too?" he hissed back. "And it's not like we're putting Delaree on the streets; she'll be in a safe environment and she'll be cared for."  
  
"I don't care- Delaree will never survive away from me! She needs more care than Relissa!"  
  
"But what if something happens to her?"  
  
"Are you saying that if Delaree gets killed then it wouldn't matter, but if Relissa gets harmed the world will end?"  
  
"Hardly the world- just Sotat." Faith made a disgruntled niose, and then once again began to pay attention to the happenings in the throne room.  
  
The next day two children were bundled up and taken to an inn- keeper, who would be paid to raise them. Everything worked as planned for four years, until another incident changed the fate of Sotat forever.  
  
The inn, which prospered greatly after the 'royal' additions, was robbed, the inn-keeper was killed, and the children were kidnapped and no one ever found them.  
  
Jesse had one sister- Lita, and Relissa had a sister and a brother- Sura and Jeki. Since their families were so close, they all grew up together, and they did almost everything together. As Jesse and Delaree were leaving an etiquette class in their sixteenth year, they heard some nobles who were in the class with them talking- about them.  
  
"My dad said that Relissa isn't the real heir to the throne," one girl informed the others. They gasped.  
  
"Why's that?" a brave one asked her.  
  
"Poppa said that she don't have a speck of magic in her and that every ruling Crelant was a mage. You can ask anyone- as far as the history books go, every oldest Crelant had magic." Relissa stepped back, and gasped softly.  
  
"They're lying Lissa, it's not true," Jesse told her quickly, but she ran away. She ran to her father, who could only tell her the truth. Earn and Ben told their children the real story of their past, and it cannot be said that Eton was not angry and that Relissa did not cry, but it can be said that they got over it. Three years later, when Relissa (who was actually Delaree) turned nineteen, and after the king was finally assured that his child would not be harmed if the truth about her came out, the king announced his search for his lost daughter, and the Count his search for his lost son.  
  
And this is why I was stuck in the middle of a rainstorm which would not let up until after we reached Harja (Tris had already told us so, so we wouldn't get our hopes up for dry weather). I was stuck in a wet hell so some king could hear me say that I didn't know anything about his child. Which, of course, would be a lie, but he wouldn't know that. I only hope Niko won't notice.  
  
'How do I know about the princess?' you ask? I'll tell you, but you'll never believe me. It all started a very long time ago, when I had gotten caught a third time (already having two Xs). I guess that's when everything started, but I can ever really be sure. Things happened all the time- like the moss and the fires- but I'll tell you all of that in good time. 


	2. Trial

"Roach, ya' lazy urchin, geddup!" Viper said, delivering a quick kick at the boy's side.  
  
"Vip, you's supposed'a be my friend," he whined, slowly dragging himself up onto his feet. As soon as she was sure that he wasn't going to fall back down again, she started dragging him through the mass of sewers they called home, cursing him in every language she could think of.  
  
"We'uz supposed'ave meet Weevil and 'is group a quarter hour ago," she informed him, stopping for a while to catch her breath. "It ain't everyday you gets inviting to go theivin' with the bigger rats in the gang," she added, but she knew that he already knew that. She waited for the impending question.  
  
"Why da they want us?" he asked her, almost not sounding childish. She restrained herself from trying to drown him in one of the deeper tunnels, and took a supposedly calming breath.  
  
"How'd I know if you don't?" she snapped at him. "All I know's that I 'ope we're needed 'nough soz they won't beat us." He was silent for the rest of the trek to Weevil's place, while she continued to mutter curses at him.  
  
When they got there, Weevil was standing in front of his hole, most of the best thieves in the gang standing there with him. Everyone except for Dancer, the youngest person allowed to be in Weevil's group, bore the double-X. Looking around, she realized how serious this job was going to be. They even had the Thieflord's pet, Slug, a rat who happened to have what he called magic, but what was really just an ability to create allusions. "Where've you two been? I thought I told you," he looked sharply at Viper, "to bring your little bug friend and be here at dawn." He shoved her into one of the walls, and she winced as she felt her flesh being torn. She cradled her arm and silently followed Weevil down the sewers to their destination, wherever it was.  
  
Roach put his hand on her right shoulder, the uninjured one. "Sorry, Vip, I didn't-" she silenced him with a wave of her hand.  
  
"It doesn't matter. It'll heal," she said non-chalantly, as though she were a noble discussing the prices of tea in Emelan.  
  
They trudged on for what seemed like hours, and all she could think about was her throbbing arm. She hadn't had time to soften her fall, and most of her left arm had gotten torn up badly. She felt Turtle, one of Weevil's goons, bump into her left arm, and winced, but he didn't seem to notice anything was off. She instinctively reached up and grabbed her stone, which was held on a piece of twine around her neck, and then a tingling feeling exploded through her arm. When she stopped to check it, it was completely healed. She stared at Roach's back for the rest of the walk, which had only really taken about thirty minutes, wondering how in the world he had done that. Weevil stopped the group, and motioned for them to go up a narrow passageway.  
  
He waited for them all to file through, and as she watched Briar go up, he grabbed her arm and leered over her. "Don't think I'll let you go unpunished after this," he said, and then scrambled up the tunnel, leaving her stunned and alone. She contemplated running right then, but with Roach already up there, she couldn't. She followed the same path the rest of them had and came up in an alleyway in an obviously rich district of the city.  
  
The 'job' turned out to be a simple raid on an upper-class hotel, and she and Roach were needed only to fit through the back fence and open the gates up for them. It was a successful venture, and she was sure that they were at least twenty blocks away with all of the goods disguised before the alarm was raised. She almost let a victorious smile slip onto her face as the crowds migrated towards the source of the noise. With nearly everyone gone to hear the gossip about the robbery, Weevil decided that a raid on a fabric store would finish off the day nicely. She was completely against the idea, but didn't say anything. Weevil appointed Slug as the look-out, because that was all he was good for.  
  
As she and Roach searched behind the counter for the cashbox, she heard a shout of alarm from Weevil. Apparently Slug had not been doing his job very well, and at the moment she was all too aware of the two Xs on her hands. She ducked under the counter and threw some cloth bolts over Roach and herself, trying to make it look as natural as possible. Roach was very still, and she tried to be, also. The street guards left on patrol had probably seen one of Weevil's goons doing something incredibly stupid and alerted others. They were searching the shop now, and she could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer. The guards turned around to leave, and were walking out of the shop when the box that had been on top of the cloth fell as an errant breeze came through the room. Viper closed her eyes as she realized what would happen.  
  
It seemed like a dream when the guards came back in and threw the cloth off of them, put chains on their wrists and half-dragged them through the streets as people muttered things about them and cursed them, threw things at them and made swings at them. It still seemed like a dream when the guards threw them into a holding cell, which she realized she had been in two other times. She followed Briar over to 'his' moss patch, and looked around. Leech and Hare weren't there, so she could safely assume that they had gotten away. No one had ratted them out- a symbol of a true gang. But Slug- everyone in the room as glaring at him, and she wouldn't be surprised if before long he was battered and bleeding. Right now, she thought morbidly, it would please her very much.  
  
But she leaned against Roach instead, nursing the cuts and bruises that she had gotten whilst she was being ridiculed. Roach didn't seem to have as many injuries as she, but then she remembered that she had placed herself on the outside of him, towards the crowd, and that Dancer had been on his other side. At least the stupid girl had been useful for something. Life was a short thing now, she thought. With my luck I'll be dead within the week. She looked around the cell, at its moldy darkness, inhales its dank smell that held hints of rotting flesh, and felt its somewhat slimy walls and damp floor. It wasn't better than her hole, but it was safer, in a way.  
  
She felt Roach put his arm around her in an effort to comfort her. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I was supposed to protect you."  
  
Viper let out a shaky laugh. "Naw, Roach, I was supposed to protect you." She fell asleep momentarily, slumping over onto Briar's legs.  
  
She was very disappointed when she woke up and saw that Slug had already gotten what was coming to him. She reached out, with her eyes still closed, and made faint grabbing motions. She finally hit something warm, and grabbed onto it, pulling herself into a sitting position. She let out a short yawn, and surveyed her surroundings. Viper saw that everyone was awake save Roach, and she intended to keep it that way. Slug was sitting by himself in a corner, whimpering slightly. His left arm looked to be a little out of socket, and he had a gash on his head. She winced in spite of her newly-conceived hatred of him, and felt something remotely like pity.  
  
Any traces of what could have been pity disappeared when the grating sound of the cell door opening reached her ears. Roach was sitting up groggily, fingering his moss. She wanted to sulk in the back so she could sit with him during their hearing, because, for all she knew, it could be the last time she saw him in this life. But the guard called out her name far before Roach's, and she knew that it was because she was much more wanted than he, because for all of Roach's swift fingered-ness, he could never quite match her ability to spot out the heaviest purses or how to remove necklaces from rich ladies' necks. She sighed, and followed Weevil out of the cell. She'd just have to leave Roach with no good-bye. But those things made parting ever so much sourer, under circumstances like these.  
  
She sulked out of the cell and lined up behind Weevil. If she had to go, this would be the best way, going out knowing that she was one of the best thieves this city had ever seen. She sighed heavily, and looked up at the ceiling, closing her eyes as everyone lined up. She opened them only after she heard Weevil start down the hall, and snapped back to attention as they were led through a maze of corridors under the main justice building, and brought up stairs that led into the trail room.  
  
Viper looked up at the judge, and sighed again. It was the crotchety woman that had given her the first X, the one on her right hand. She wasn't likely to show mercy to anyone, not when the Sotatian laws were written so clearly. She was shoved down onto a bench, and watched Weevil be sentenced to the docks. She was brought before the magistrate and Viper's hands were slammed down onto the table. She and the judge both saw her two Xs, and she almost smiled when the judge gave her docks, too. Out of all three places she could have gone to, she had been praying that she got docks, because that was by far the easiest place to escape from. Considering that she was a great swimmer and all. She was led to a separate holding pen than Weevil, because she was a girl.  
  
Now that she was in the back of the room, she could see everyone that was sitting in it. There were few people besides the sentenced sitting in the room, and the one that drew her notice was a tall Bag. He was sitting towards the middle of the room, and glancing around at all of the thieves in there. His gaze fell on her, and she stared defiantly back. His eyes widened for a moment and he focused a mirror-like object on her, and she froze. He smiled, and turned around. When Roach got up, he was sentenced to docks, too. She smiled then. Perhaps she would see him- to plan an escape.  
  
But the Bag went up to the front and talked to the magistrate, and then began to argue in hushed tones about something, and he turned around and looked at her. The magistrate gave Roach a choice on whether to go to the docks or to go to some temple - Winding Circle, was it? - and she gasped slightly. He chose the temple, and she heard him change his name to Briar Moss. The little twit was just going off with the Bag like that, and he didn't even spare a glance towards her as he slouched off after the Bag. An empty void suddenly filled her heart. He was almost like family to her, and she couldn't remember a time when Roach hadn't been with her, ever since, well, forever. She started to mentally curse him, but a guard helped her out of her cell and led her, unviolently, to a nice, if not minimally furnished, room.  
  
"Master Goldeneye says for you to stay here until his return. We aren't to harm you if you don't misbehave," the guard paused there, letting her sink in her instructions, "but we could always make up an excuse for killing you if you try to run away." He sauntered out of the room, but then stopped again before the door. "And if I were you, I'd be thinking of a new name." Then he left for good, shutting the door behind him. She waited for the click of a lock, but one never came. I suppose, she thought, that this is a test for me.  
  
Viper leaned back onto her bed. A new name, she thought. What should it be?  
  
***  
  
Roach/Briar trotted after the Bag that had saved him for the docks, trying to appear willing and helpful. He gave up that façade a little before they reached the first hotel, and started sulking. The Bag seemed to be deep in thought, but Bags were tricky like that. You never knew exactly what they were thinking until they chose to tell you. Unluckily for him, he thought, that this Bag didn't seem to be very dull. He decided to go with him until they got to Emelan, get a few good meals under his belt, and then run. Emelan was fresh territory for him, a new start.  
  
His plans changed when he found out that he could work with plants if he went to the temple, although the thought of smiling dedicates handing him the keys to their treasury was first in his mind. That was something that Viper would never be able to pull off. Viper, he thought suddenly and remorsefully. He had forgotten to say goodbye. And she was as good as dead. Trying to put the thought of Viper dead out of his mind, he followed the Bag-mage into their bedroom, unknowingly subjecting himself to a bath. 


	3. Escape

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that isn't mine.  
  
*  
  
Viper sat on the ground, her legs crossed and her arms lying limply on them, her eyes shut in concentration. She was trying this thing that the male mage in green across the room had called madoration. Or was it meditation? Yes, meditation- seven counts breathing in, seven holding your breath, seven breathe out- and again. She really didn't see why the mage had to be there with her while she did this meditation, but there were many things they didn't tell her. One of those things they didn't tell her being why they were doing this thing. It was completely purposeless- the mage wanted her to gather all of herself into one object! What sense did that make? She was in her body, and that was an object. Apparently she had done something right, for he looked pleased when he left- two hours later. Mages were strange folk, she decided.  
  
But she hadn't thought of a name that would be suitable for a Bag's servant. Roach had chosen Briar- a plant name. Should she, too? What plant names were there for her? Violet, lily, petunia, thistle, bramble (Wait, I think that isn't a name!), rose- Rose was nice. It conveyed everything a servant should be: nice, sweet, obedient, lovely. Definitely things that she wasn't. But Roach had to have a second name too. Really, what good would two names do him? All it would do was to make him seem pretentious and stupid if he ever came back using it.  
  
Pretentious was a word she had picked up from listening to people talk as they passed her door. She had picked up the rich people dialect of Sotat in a surprisingly short time- all they did was sound fancy and use big words. And they sounded like they were talking to dung when they spoke to servants. But that was about it, nothing else separated them from the working class except for the fact that they were snobs and had been born into families loaded with money.  
  
*  
  
Briar had just settled all of his stuff in at the boy's dormitory. He could already tell he wasn't going to like it here, because all of the other boys were stupid rich bleaters. As soon as he got the chance to nick something good, he'd run.  
  
*  
  
Viper sighed. She'd finally come up with a second name- Ember. That's what was left of the chair in her room after the guard (who reeked of alcohol) had come in and screamed at her. He had left surprisingly quickly, and come back with two Bags, but neither were the mage who meditated with her. She sighed and waited to be screamed at again, wishing it was at least someone who she knew (somewhat) that would punish her, but no noise came. She looked up and saw the Bags examining her work. The woman, who was wearing a blue robe which must have cost seven golden astreals a yard, turned to face her and let out a short gasp.  
  
"Gods, Mihckial, do you know who she looks like?" The other mage, who was wearing a red robe that must have cost more than his companions, turned to face her also. He, too, wore an astonished look once he saw her.  
  
"I think that the king really should have come down and looked at this," the male Bag said slowly. "Guard," he called out, "see to it that no one sees or harms this child until we come back. The door is to be locked and not opened under any circumstance." The guard nodded hesitantly.  
  
The Bags both left in a rush, and Viper knew her escape had to be right then. She couldn't draw all this attention to herself; it would only ruin her chance for an escape. The guard gave her a warning glare and shut the door. This time she heard it lock. She went over to the window and slid it open as silently as possible. She was only on the second floor, so a drop from here wouldn't hurt her very much, if at all. She wriggled through the window and fell, hoping that she would have a soft landing. As she would have wished, there were some thick bushes that supported her weight and kept her from a hard landing. She crawled off of them and ran like crazy. She had counted on there being guard at the gate, but not as few as there were, and she hadn't counted on the doors being shut. It would take a miracle for her plan now.  
  
Everything seemed to be going her way on this escape. A wagon with trash in it now came down the lane heading from the castle to the wherever the trash dump was. Backtracking as quickly as she could, Viper jumped into the trash in the back and buried herself. She only had to wait for the gates to be opened and shut and then she would get out.  
  
But of course something always has to go wrong if something goes right. Apparently the driver and the guards were very good friends, and the driver just had to stay for an hour to talk to them. So Viper sat, in an uncomfortable position in the middle of a rotten, stink-filled trash wagon for an hour, holding her breath for long periods of time and then wishing she would die. Finally, the guard got back into the wagon and it started moving along. She would have sighed, but the guard was staring at the back of the wagon. The gates slid into place behind them as the wagon turned the corner of the street and headed towards the dump place. She jumped out of the trash as soon as she was sure that they were far enough from palace and the rich district of the city surrounding it as she needed to be, and immediately headed towards the sea to rid herself of the smell of the garbage. Gagging the whole way there from her stench, she received some very strange looks from everyone she passed. She started running as soon as she had her first glimpse of the water, and jumped off of the docks into the water, shutting her eyes just before the water hit her. She kicked upward, thankful that she had no shoes to drag her down, and gasped in the fresh, clean air. She looked up into the sky in time to see the trash wagon unloading its trash onto her face. The perfect ending to her perfect day. 


End file.
